He Xuan
He Xuan (贺玄) is one of the Four Great Calamities, a Devastation class ghost. When he was a mortal, he was called He Sheng or Student He because of his scholarly gifts. His territory is the Black Water Demon Lair and he's known to be very low-key, rarely ever seen. Appearance In his true form he appears to be a demon dressed in black. He is accompanied by skelatal ghost arowanas (a type of lucky fish). History He Xuan was a scholar who was fated to rise into Heaven and become a God. However he was cheated of his Tribulation by Shi Wudu because he had the same birth date and birth name as Shi Qingxuan. The village of Fu Gu tells the tale of He Xuan at their local Blood soaked Fire Festival: "This was passed down through word of mouth, but many centuries ago, there was a scholar here named He.” “This He Sheng, although his family was very, very poor, he was quite the man of talents. He was scarily clever since his youth, and picked things up fast and precise. He was also known everywhere as a good son; there’s really nothing bad to say about the guy. Unfortunately for him, he’s just very unlucky, and nothing good ever lasts.” “He studied hard and took the national exams, and even though he clearly did well, but because he didn’t pay up a greeting gift to the examiner, he offended the officials and they hid his test scroll, exchanging it for a blank one, and for years he couldn’t land a rank. He got engaged, his fiancee was a childhood friend, beautiful like flowers, kind and compassionate, but both his wife and little sister were kidnapped by a wealthy household who turned them into bed attendants; one wouldn’t obey and was beaten to death, the other couldn’t bear the shame and committed suicide. He went to quarrel but the other turned around and accused him of committing adultery instead. He was locked up in jail and almost died from starvation. His old ma and pa of seventy years begged for mercy for him, kowtowed their heads an entire night, but no use. He was jailed for two years before he was released. His mom had no one to take care of her and was long dead from illness, and his dad had to labour for the family by himself and had only but a breath left. He couldn’t study anymore and got into business, but because he was too good at it, the other merchants ganged up on him to suppress him. All the money he made were cleaned away and instead he owed an entire string of debt.” '' '' “And then that man went crazy, going completely mad. One night, the day before the last day of Autumn just like today, he took up a bunch of weapons and butchered everyone who hurt him! It was a bloody sight, flesh and gore flying all over, extremely satisfying! Since all those he killed bullied all the people in town for ages, everyone cheered for him. So that why, every year on the day before the last day of Autumn, the town would commemorate him with a Bloody Fire Social, pray Lord He Sheng would watch over us and kill all the villains.” He wound up in prison for two years and nearly starved to death. His elderly parents died and the family business went belly up. Eventually he loses everyone he loves and becomes the Devastation level ghost considered one of the Four Great Calamities. SPOILER!!! Expand only if you're done reading the whole book, or want to be spoiled. He befriends Shi Qingxuan by pretending to be the dead Earth Master. All along whenever Qingxuan claims that "Ming Yi" is his best friend, He Xuan replies that no he isn't. This turns out to be no joke: he really does hate the Shi brothers and wants revenge. After he enacts his vengeance, he follows Qingxuan around but never shows himself to him again. Trivia * His family name means "Congratulate" and his personal name can mean either "Black" or "Mysterious". Category:Male Characters Category:Ghost